[magellan]

Thought you guys in the Michigan section might enjoy this. In addition to all the medical development going up on "The Hill" in downtown Grand Rapids, there has been a recent slew of redevelopment projects going on. And yes, we do have vacant burned out buildings in downtown GR, and the credit markets are tight. But with a mix of historic tax credits, brownfield tax credits, Low Income Housing tax credits, Renaissance Zones and DDA grants, these projects haven't let up one bit (they seem to be accelerating).

This building on the corner of Monroe Center and Ottawa, nicknamed the Flatiron Building, is actually three separate buildings and the city just announced it will undergo $4.5 Million in renovations by a local developer. It's used for office and retail space.



101 S. Division is an old hotel in the historic Heartside District. It's been abandoned for some time and it was almost to the point of needing to be torn down. A Midland developer is investing about $5.5 Million into it and creating 21 low-income apartments and ground floor retail.



It's just nasty on the inside:



A local developer has just announced that he will invest about $4 Million into the old Kendall Building on Monroe Center. It's been vacant for about 20+ years, and will house new apartments and retail. It too is nasty on the inside and has fire and water damage on basically every floor.



35 Oakes in the Heartside District, the old Heartside Manor/Merten Hotel is going to be rehabbed starting in the Spring for about $5 Million. It sits right across the street from the fairly new Cooley Law School campus on Commerce Ave, and will be apartments.




Another angle of the building looking from Ionia:




True North Architecture plans to move from the "burbs" into this old industrial building, adding a 3rd floor (visible from I-196) and a bevy of "green" features, like a green roof, wind turbines, solar panels, etc.. A health services firm plans to occupy the bottom two floors.



It sits right along Seward on the West Side of downtown, where a bunch of old furniture factories have been converted into office space and retail in the last few years.



A rendering of the project once it's finished:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3351/...00170a81_o.jpg

In most cities in the country, much of these buildings would have seen the wrecking ball. Our stubborn land owners defied the pressure and kept them standing (albeit vacant for 20 - 30 years).

I think I read that over the past 3 years, there's been about $75 Million pumped into old buildings in downtown GR, not to mention about $1 Billion in new construction. As a side note, the Renaissance Zone legislation has been more successful in Grand Rapids than in any other part of the state, resulting in over $250 Million in redevelopment projects in and near downtown (blowing away Detroit's Ren Zone projects).

Enjoy!

(If anyone wants more details on any of this, send me a message)

If you like this kind of rehab stuff, Kzoo has had a ton of it recently, that you can see at this guy's site (don't know his name): http://www.flickr.com/photos/umleroi/page2/ (broken link) (flip through the pages to see more).

[michmoldman]

I seriously wonder if GR will be the Chicago of the future.
They seem to be in the right location, especially if in the future peolpe stream back to Michigan because of the water resources.

[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by michmoldman

I seriously wonder if GR will be the Chicago of the future.
They seem to be in the right location, especially if in the future peolpe stream back to Michigan because of the water resources.

I wouldn't go as far as to say "Chicago", the immense sprawling world class metropolis, but if Michigan as a whole can reclaim some lost residents, I think that GR could grow immensly in the next 5-10 years.

Regardless, I feel that growth in Michigan will be confined to specific regions in the future, and GR will be one of them, lets just hope that we can fix our government woes before the next wave of success sweeps the national economy.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by michmoldman

I seriously wonder if GR will be the Chicago of the future.
They seem to be in the right location, especially if in the future peolpe stream back to Michigan because of the water resources.

The West Michigan Strategic Alliance thinks Grand Rapids will be the "L.A. of Michigan" in the next 20 years, and not in a good way. It's starting to sprawl badly to the South and West, blurring the lines between GR, Holland, and Zeeland, although that has slowed a great deal lately. Growth downtown seems to be chugging along, surprisingly.

[magellan]

Here's a great video about one of these projects, and how the buildings look now on the inside (like they're frozen in time). Cool!

Rapid Growth - RGTV: Grand Rapids™ Flat Iron development to generate 27,000 square feet of downtown office space

[Driller1]

Thanks.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Driller1

Thanks.

Sure. In one of the shots, you can see a painted picture on the wall. Apparently that used to be an exterior wall, when they used to paint advertisements on the exterior of buildings (back in the early 1900's), and then a building was built next door. Now the ad has been preserved on the interior, and they apparently plan to clean it up and keep it for whoever the new office user will be.

You just can't reproduce stuff like that.

[magellan]

Add another project to this list. 111 S. Division in the Avenue of the Arts in GR will be renovated for mixed-use. The building dates back to 1890, and has been vacant for as long as I can remember (10+ years):

Vacant building on South Division Avenue set to be developed into offices, wellness center - West Michigan Business News – MLive.com

[mackinac81]

Originally posted by michmoldman
I seriously wonder if GR will be the Chicago of the future.
They seem to be in the right location, especially if in the future peolpe stream back to Michigan because of the water resources.

I hope it doesn't end up like Chicago. The sprawling seven county mass. I can't imagine what that'd look like. Kalamazoo as a suburb I totally agree that if (or when) Michigan recovers GR (and most of W. Michigan)will be a big magnet for those returning. It's already seen as a bright spot on our otherwise blighted mitten. Personally, I think it's the greatest city in the state on so many levels, and when I return, I'll DEFINTELY be looking at GR, Holland, or Kalamazoo.

[magellan]

Another video of a renovation project starting up soon (mentioned in my first post):

RGTV -- Heartside residential opportunities grow with 42 apartments, final piece of Cherry Landing

And a new wine bar (non-smoking) called Corez that opened in a renovated insurance office near downtown GR (Cherry Street/Uptown area):

RGTV: Corez Wine Bar